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Mini-Review: Sing for Me, Forsaken and Flesh Failure

January 3, 2016 Leave a Comment

minireview

Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.

Sing For Me

Tite: Sing For Me

Author: Gracie Madison

Genre: New Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: 3 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Madeline Noel fled war-torn Heaven to hide within the mortal world, but the blessing that could protect her from evil is the holy realm’s forbidden power.

As a talented soprano for the Eden Theatre Company, Madeline hides among prima donnas and tone-deaf flutists. Her perfect voice may entertain audiences, but a careless laugh may shatter glass, and her greatest scream can kill. To control her unrestrained voice, the angels forbid Madeline from embracing the emotions that strengthen her song. Anger. Fear.

Love.

The demon-hunter Damascus vows to defend Madeline from Hell’s relentless evil, but he cannot protect her from her own feelings. Though they deny their dangerous attraction, her guardian becomes her greatest temptation.

Surrendering to desire may awaken the gift suppressed within Madeline’s soul, and neither Heaven nor Hell will allow such absolute power to exist.

Review: While the idea of Choirs, angels with the gift of music, is an excellent and original plot idea, the book simply was too confusing at times. It didn’t explain things enough. On top of that, Madeline’s personality makes it almost impossible to connect with her. The love between Madeline and Damascus is forbidden, yet she keeps leading him on. Damascus reads like an angel version of Twilight’s Edward. So while the plot had original elements, this didn’t completely do it for me.

Forsaken

Title: Forsaken

Author: Kristen Day

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal

Rating: 2 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Once you’ve been touched by darkness, it never leaves you…

Abandoned by her parents as an infant; seventeen year old Hannah spent her childhood wading through countless foster families until being adopted by the Whitmans three years ago.

Unfortunately, Atlanta’s high society wasn’t quite ready for Hannah…or the strange events that plague her. Chilling visions of murder, unexplained hallucinations, and a dark, mysterious guy who haunts her nightmares all culminate to set in motion a journey of self-discovery that will challenge everything she’s ever believed; not to mention her sanity.

Sent to live at The House of Lorelei on Bald Head Island, NC for ‘kids like her,’ Hannah quickly realizes things are not what they seem. Her fellow ‘disturbed’ teens are actually the descendants of mythical Sea Gods and Goddesses. And so is she.

But when Finn, the ghost from her dreams, appears in the flesh; her nightmares become reality and her dark visions begin coming true. Inexplicably drawn to him, she can’t deny the dangerous hold he has on her heart. The deadly secrets he harbors will ultimately test her courage and push the boundaries of her love.

She must decide if she is ready to embrace the ancient legend she is prophesied to be a part of. The fate of all the descendants will forever depend upon it.

Review: The concept was all right, but the plot and characters left much to be desired. Think Twilight but with mermaids and you pretty much have a good synopsis for this one. The writing wasn’t stellar either, and the main character was plain annoying.

Flesh Failure

Title: Flesh Failure

Author: Séphera Girón

Genre: Horror

Rating: 3 stars

Purchase: Amazon

“From out of the grave.”

London, 1888: Agatha drags herself from a shallow grave to roam the fog-shrouded streets of the dark city, trying to piece together what happened. Her new friends, the ladies of the night, live in terror of Jack the Ripper, while Agatha persistently searches for what she discovers she needs to stay alive electrical charges.

As her memory grows stronger, the hazy images from her past come into focus, but questions remain. Do her answers lie in the shadows of the streets, the hidden corridors of London Hospital, or someplace far more frightening?”

Review: Frankenstein from the POV of the monster, set in London of Jack the Ripper would be a good way to describe this. The historical events, like the Ripper murders, were the best part of the book for me. Not too original, but entertaining all the same.
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Mini-Review: Deviant, Misfit, Huber Hill and the Dead Man’s Treasure

November 9, 2014 1 Comment

minireview

Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.

Deviant

Title: Deviant

Author: Adrian McKinty

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller

Rating: 3 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Danny Lopez is new in town. He made a mistake back home in Las Vegas, and now he has landed at an experimental school in Colorado for “tough cases.” At the Cobalt Charter School, everything is scripted—what the teachers say, what the students reply—and no other speaking is allowed. This supercontrolled environment gives kids a second chance to make something of themselves. But with few freedoms, the students become sitting ducks for a killer determined to “clean up” Colorado Springs.

Review: The story is at its best when we get into the mind of the serial killer. The story jumps around at first, and the characters are a bit bland. It’s more about Danny trying to fit in rather than anything else. Writing isn’t spectacular either.

Misfit

Title: Misfit

Author: Jon Skovron

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy

Rating: 3,5 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Jael Thompson has never really fit in. She’s changed schools too many times to count. The only family she’s ever known is her father, a bitter ex-priest who never lets her date and insists she attend the strictest Catholic school in Seattle. And her mother—well, she was a five thousand year old demon. That doesn’t exactly help.

But on her sixteenth birthday, her father gives her a present that brings about some unexpected changes. Some of the changes, like strange and wonderful powers and the cute skater boy with a knack for science, are awesome. But others, like the homicidal demon seeking revenge on her family? Not so much.

Steeped in mythology, this is an epic tale of a heroine who balances old world with new, science with magic, and the terrifying depths of the underworld with the ordinary halls of high school.

Review: Dark and riveting, this is an intriguing book that offered several unexpected surprises. It brings a whole new spin of demons, the bible and the underworld. The writing is solid, and it was an enjoyable book.

Huber Hill and the Dead Man’s Treasure

Title: Huber Hill and the Dead Man’s Treasure

Author: B.K. Bostick

Genre: Middle Grace, Fantasy, Children’s Books

Rating: 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Huber’s life goes from bad to terrible when his grandfather dies—until he opens Grandpa Nick’s mysterious box. An old gold coin and a treasure map rocket him and his friends into a mind-blowing adventure, but he’s not the only one on the hunt. Filled with dangerous animals and cryptic puzzles, this book will have you on the edge of your seat until the last page.

Review: This was a delightful, quirky, fun adventure that kept me on the edge of my seat from the start to end. The villain is deliciously creepy, and the clues are puzzling and entertaining.

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Mini-Review: A Beautiful dark, Dark Eden, Girl of Fire and Thorns

October 26, 2014 1 Comment

minireview

Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.

A Beautiful Dark

Title: A Beautiful Dark

Author: Jocelyn Davies

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Angels

Rating: 4 stars

Purchase: Amazon

On the night of Skye’s seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites—like fire and ice—Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye’s life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move—only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.

In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can’t help falling for, and Devin, who she can’t stay away from, the consequences of Skye’s choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.

A Beautiful Dark is the first book in a captivating trilogy by debut author Jocelyn Davies.

Review: One of the few love triangles I actually enjoyed  – Asher and Devin both have their moments, and it’s not obvious from the start who Skye will choose (like in many YA novels). The world-building and setting are solid too, and Skye’s relationship with her best friend, Cassie, is adorable. A solid YA paranormal.

Dark Eden

Title: Dark Eden

Author: Patrick Carman

Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Mystery, Science-Fiction

Rating: 3 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Fifteen-year-old Will Besting is sent by his doctor to Fort Eden, an institution meant to help patients suffering from crippling phobias. Once there, Will and six other teenagers take turns in mysterious fear chambers and confront their worst nightmares—with the help of the group facilitator, Rainsford, an enigmatic guide. When the patients emerge from the chamber, they feel emboldened by the previous night’s experiences. But each person soon discovers strange, unexplained aches and pains. . . . What is really happening to the seven teens trapped in this dark Eden?

Patrick Carman’s Dark Eden is a provocative exploration of fear, betrayal, memory, and— ultimately—immortality.

Review: Very slow build up, and not enough details are given, which gives the book a confusing vibe. The story of the teenagers was interesting though, and their personalities entertaining and three-dimensional. However, the pacing destroyed most of the suspense, making it a mediocre read.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns

Title: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns #1)

Author: Rae Carson

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: 4 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

Review: I loved this book. It screamed originality, the main character has some real issues but she manages to overcome them by the end of the book, there’s genuine character development, and the world building is amazing. Loved it.

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Mini-Review: Haint Misbehavin’, Striking Back, Slide

October 5, 2014 1 Comment

minireview

Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.

Haint Misbehavin’

Title: Haint Misbehavin’

Author: Maureen Hardegree

Genre: Middle Grade, Paranormal, Ghosts

Rating: 4 stars

Purchase: Amazon

The start of a fun middle-grade series, The Ghost Handlers, follows Heather Tildy, an Atlanta teen with a troublesome habit of attracting ghosts. Middle-child Heather has enough to worry about with sisters, boys and school. Now that a trouble-making girl from the 1800’s is poking her nose in Heather’s business, her life has taken a supernatural turn for the worse! Before her life can get better, she has to figure out how to help the ghost move on. Debut author Hardegree is a veteran short-story author for the well-known MOSSY CREEK HOMETOWN series. She plans multiple titles in this warm and funny YA series. “Ghostly fun!” ~Gillian Summers, The Faire Folk Series “A fun package of crushes, quests for popularity, and summertime antics, tied together with a paranormal bow. Fans of Meg Cabot’s Mediator novels will find much to like in Haint Misbehavin’, the first of Hardegree’s Ghost Handler series.” ~Trish Milburn HEARTBREAK RIVER (as Tricia Mills), Razorbill

Review: This was a fun, light ghost story for teens and middle graders. Heather is a great protagonist. She’s definitely not perfect – she has the habit of attracting ghosts, has multiple skin and respiratory allergies that make her stand out from the rest, and she’s geeky in a fun way. This book was light-hearted but kids will be able to relate to the characters and story just fine.

Striking Back

Title: Striking Back

Author: Mark Nykanen

Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers

Rating: 4 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Justice is coming.
These men like to hurt women. Now it’s payback time for an unknown murderer who’s slaughtering the abusers in ways that mirror the ugly violence they forced upon the women in their lives. As the death count grows-and media interest explodes-innocent people could get caught in the killer’s revenge.
Los Angeles therapist Gwyn Sanders keeps her ugly family history to herself. More than twenty years ago, when she was still a teen, her violent stepfather died a grisly, mysterious death. Gwyn knows all the secrets but she’s not talking about the past-she’s too busy trying to change the future by breaking the cycle of domestic violence. The men she counsels aren’t saints, but maybe she can change the mindset that makes their lives-and the lives of the people closest to them-so miserable.
But when someone starts killing her controversial clients, Gwyn becomes LAPD’s primary suspect. After all, there’s the unsolved mystery of her stepfather’s bizarre death. Maybe Gwyn has a hidden desire for justice that’s far from therapeutic.

Review: Gwyn Sanders is an intriguing as it gets. She can easily relate to her patients because she has an ugly family history herself. When her worst clients start getting killed, Gwyn becoems the primary suspect. Her stepfather’s bizarre death was never solved, and that’s not working in her advantage either. The book was twisted at times, and very intense. The characterization was spot on.

Slide

Title: Slide

Author: Jill Hathaway

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Thriller

Rating: 4,5 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth–her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can’t bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting distant lately, especially now that she’s been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

Review: The moment I read the synopsis for Slide, I knew I had to read this book. Everyone belives Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep: when she passes out, she slides into someone else’s mind and experiences the world thorugh their eyes. That’s how she’s certain that her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself, but was murdered. Now it’s up to Vee to unmask the killer before he strikes again. There were quite a few twists and surprises, and the book definitely has a high creepy factor.

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Mini-Review: White Witch, Monstrous Beauty, Pretty Crooked

September 21, 2014 Leave a Comment

minireview

Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.

White Witch

Title: White Witch (Coven #1)

Author: Trish milburn

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Witches

Rating: 2 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Fresh, fun, and dangerous! I can’t wait for the next one!” -Sherrilyn Kenyon #1 NYT Bestselling Author of the Dark-Hunter Series
Witchcraft Is Her Family’s Business.
No One Quits The Family And Lives To Tell About It.
“Jax” Pherson has power, enough power to know her future will end in service to the dark coven her father controls. Unless she can stay hidden in a small community in the mountains of North Carolina. She must find a way to live without magic and deny the darkness she feels welling up inside her-the same dark power that fuels the covens around the world.
All she wants is a normal life. A boyfriend. Friends. Some place to belong, but all too soon Jax’s barely begun new life hangs in the balance when she discovers that the boy she’s attracted to is sworn to kill her kind. He’s a hunter with good reason to kill everything that goes bump in the night.
Even the most fleeting use of her power is tantamount to signing her death warrant and will bring both hunter and coven down on her. But can she walk away when her friends are threatened by an old evil? Something created by the magic of witches? Jax’s only hope of survival is to convince the boy she loves to forget everything he’s ever been taught and help her find a way to fight the covens. To believe there is some good in her.

Review: I liked the whole witchcraft angle of the book – I’m a fan of witches, and the plot was entertaining. The insta-love bothered me though, as well as the Mary Sue qualities of the main character. Jax is pretty much perfect, and that makes her pretty boring.

Monstrous Beauty

Title: Monstrous Beauty

Author: Elizabeth Fama

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Mermaids

Rating: 4 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.

Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

Review: I loved this book. Monstrous Beauty combines two paranormal creatures: mermaids and ghosts. While it seems a surprising combination, it actually works. The book travels between two timelines, each one equally convincing. Solid writing, amazing characters.

Pretty Crooked

Title: Pretty Crooked

Author: Elisa Ludwig

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Rating: 3 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.

Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”-known to everyone as the Glitterati-without them suspecting a thing, is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.

The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her-evening the social playing field between the have and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.

But when the cops start investigating the string of burglaries at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could he wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?

Review: A modern female Robin Hood, Pretty Crooked is a light read. However, the writing was a little flat, and none of the characters stood out for me. I did enjoy reading the book, but it wasn’t very memorable.

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Mini-Review: Velveteen, Confessions of an Angry Girl, Quicksilver

July 11, 2014 Leave a Comment

minireview

Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.

Velveteen

Title: Velveteen

Author: Daniel Marks

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Ghosts

Rating: 4,5 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days.

It’ll be brutal… and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules… or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.

Review: What a compelling, creative and refreshing book. After she gets murdered by a serial killer named Bonesaw, Velveteen wants to take revenge on him, and haunt him for the rest of her days. The narrative was simple but compelling either way. The atmosphere was dark, grim and creepy, exactly right.

Confessions of an Angry Girl

Title: Confessions of an Angry Girl

Author: Louise Rozett

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Chicklit

Rating: 4 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Rose Zarelli, self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl, has some confessions to make…

1. I’m livid all the time. Why? My dad died. My mom barely talks. My brother abandoned us. I think I’m allowed to be irate, don’t you?

2. I make people furious regularly. Want an example? I kissed Jamie Forta, a badass guy who might be dating a cheerleader. She is now enraged and out for blood. Mine.

3. High school might as well be Mars. My best friend has been replaced by an alien, and I see red all the time. (Mars is red and “seeing red” means being angry—get it?)

Here are some other vocab words that describe my life: Inadequate. Insufferable. Intolerable.

(Don’t know what they mean? Look them up yourself.)

Review: Confessions of an Angry Girl is an intriguing read. Rose is an awesome girl, she’s a self-proclaimed word geek and angry girl. The story feels very realistic, and the characters act like real teenagers would. It’s funny and personal, and a great read.

Quicksilver

Title: Quicksilver

Author: R.J. Anderson

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy

Rating: 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Back in her hometown, Tori Beaugrand had everything a teenaged girl could want—popularity, money, beauty. But she also had a secret. A secret that could change her life in an instant, or destroy it.

Now she’s left everything from her old life behind, including her real name and Alison, the one friend who truly understood her. She can’t escape who and what she is. But if she wants to have anything like a normal life, she has to blend in and hide her unusual… talents.

Plans change when the enigmatic Sebastian Faraday reappears and gives Tori some bad news: she hasn’t escaped her past. In fact, she’s attracted new interest in the form of an obsessed ex-cop turned investigator for a genetics lab.

She has one last shot at getting her enemies off her trail and winning the security and independence she’s always longed for. But saving herself will take every ounce of Tori’s incredible electronics and engineering skills—and even then, she may need to sacrifice more than she could possibly imagine if she wants to be free.

Review: Quicksilver is one of the best books I’ve read. R.J. Anderson is an amazing author, and I can barely find the right words to review this book. R.J. Anderson never dissapionts. Quicksilver is intriguing, has enigmatic, charismatic characters, with great writing and a suspenseful plot.

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Mini-Review: Unspoken, Covet, The Enchanted Truth

July 6, 2014 Leave a Comment

minireview

Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.

Unspoken

Title: Unspoken

Author: Sarah Rees Brennan

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Young Adult

Rating: 4 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

Review: Kami Glass has always talked to a boy in her mind. This was an unique premise, and the book delivers easily on its unique plot. There was a lot of mystery, and it was rather complicated, which I enjoyed. I’m not sure if everyone is who they’re pretending to be, and I love that about a book.

Covet

Title: Covet (The Clann #2)

Author: Melissa Darnell

Genre: Vampires, Witches, Paranormal Romance, Young Adult

Rating: 2 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Dangerous to be together. Painful to be apart.

Savannah Colbert knows she broke up with Tristan Coleman for the right reasons. Most of all, to keep from killing him with her new vampire abilities. But try telling her heart. Now, lost in a sea of hostile Clann faces, Sav tries to come to terms with what she's becoming and what that means for her future. And that someone is doing their best to bully her into making a terrible mistake.

Tristan can’t believe Sav won’t even talk to him. If being apart is her decision, fine. Just don't expect him to honor it. But even as he prepares to fight for the girl he loves, forces beyond their control take them both in directions neither could have foreseen or prepared for.

A reckoning is coming, and not everyone will survive.

Review: I didn’t really like Crave, the first book in the series. I thought most of it was hilariously stupid,  but I decided to give Savannah another shot in this sequel. The book isn’t much better than the first one though. The pacing was agonizingly slow, Savannah is ridiculous, whiny, and pathetic. Tristan isn’t much better. Not recommended.

The Enchanted Truth

Title: The Enchanted Truth

Author: Kym Petrie

Genre: Short Stories, Fairytales, Young Adult

Rating: 4 stars

Purchase: Amazon

In this humorous and insightful tale, a modern day princess finds herself single and asking for magical intervention to change her sorry love life. Rather than casting a spell to bring Prince Charming to her rescue, a savvy fairy godmother gives the tenderhearted damsel an unexpected gift. By entrusting her true thoughts and desires to an unlikely confidant, the young royal soon discovers that the person who could make her life everything she dreamed it would be has been with her all along.

As author Kym Petrie herself realized, every woman needs a froggy friend and a secret journal—and enough adventures with the girls to keep her heart pounding and her mind racing. Life is meant to be about happy beginnings . . . you can never have enough of them.

Review: A princess asks her grandmother for magical intervention to change her sorry love life. But things don’t work out like the princess expected. The tale is short, insightful and humorous. It’s inspired by the Frog Prince story. It’s funny at times, and a short read, so it’s over fast. An enjoyable book for everyone who loves fairytales.

 

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Mini-Review: Raven’s Cove, Frozen, Pale

July 4, 2014 Leave a Comment

minireview

Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.

Raven’s Cove

Title: Raven’s Cove

Author: Mary Ann Poll

Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural, Mystery

Rating: 2,5 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Welcome to Ravens Cove, Alaska, a tiny town nestled in a small hollow on the majestic Cook Inlet. A town familiar with storytelling-after all, Alaska abounds in rich legends. Unlike other tales, however, the account of Ravens Cove is not just based in fact. It is fact. Meet Josiah Williams, the peculiar stranger whose warning to lifetime residents Kat Tovslosky and her cousin, Sheriff Bart Andersen, raises more questions than answers; a man whose dark past and knowledge of the murders make him a suspect more than an ally. Join Kat and Bart as an unlikely troop forms (including a very unwelcome FBI agent) to discover the identity of a killer. The unearthing of which will throw the reluctant warriors into a battle for their very lives and the lives of all who call Ravens Cove home.

Review: Raven’s Cove wasn’t the intriguing blend of fantasy and supernatural mystery that I’d hoped. It wasn’t nearly as creepy as I thought, there were a lot of Christian themes, and it actually read more like a cozy mystery. Not too bad, but it definitely lacked suspense and creepiness. The villain isn’t defined well enough, and is rather bland, just your typical, standard bad demon that is inherently bland.

Frozen

Title: Frozen

Author: Mary Casanova

Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction

Rating:  4 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Sixteen-year-old Sadie Rose hasn’t said a word in eleven years—ever since the day she was found lying in a snowbank during a howling storm. Like her voice, her memories of her mother and what happened that night were frozen.

Set during the roaring 1920s in the beautiful, wild area on Rainy Lake where Minnesota meets Canada, Frozen tells the remarkable story of Sadie Rose, whose mother died under strange circumstances the same night that Sadie Rose was found, unable to speak, in a snowbank. Sadie Rose doesn’t know her last name and has only fleeting memories of her mother—and the conflicting knowledge that her mother had worked in a brothel. Taken in as a foster child by a corrupt senator, Sadie Rose spends every summer along the shores of Rainy Lake, where her silence is both a prison and a sanctuary.

One day, Sadie Rose stumbles on a half dozen faded, scandalous photographs—pictures, she realizes, of her mother. They release a flood of puzzling memories, and these wisps of the past send her at last into the heart of her own life’s great mystery: who was her mother, and how did she die? Why did her mother work in a brothel—did she have a choice? What really happened that night when a five-year-old girl was found shivering in a snowbank, her voice and identity abruptly shattered?

Sadie Rose’s search for her personal truth is laid against a swirling historical drama—a time of prohibition and women winning the right to vote, political corruption, and a fevered fight over the area’s wilderness between a charismatic, unyielding, powerful industrialist and a quiet man battling to save the wide, wild forests and waters of northernmost Minnesota. Frozen is a suspenseful, moving testimonial to the haves and the have-nots, to the power of family and memory, and to the extraordinary strength of a young woman who has lost her voice in nearly every way—but is utterly determined to find it again.

Review: A mix of coming-of-age, mystery and historical fiction. The story is haunting, lyrical, and the writing was great. Sadie is a lovely main character, and the setting, the roaring 1920s is amazing. She’s curious, intelligent, and quite charming – she matches well with the 1920s setting. The slow revelation of what’s going on was great, but the ending was a little too fast.

Pale

Title: Pale

Author: Chris Wooding

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Dystopian

Rating: 3 stars

Purchase: Amazon

The Lazarus Serum can bring you back from the dead – but when you come back you’ve changed – you’re a Pale, an outcast. It’s the last thing Jed wants, but an accident changes everything and Jed’s forced to discover the true cost of living forever.

Review: This was a novella, so a quick read. The premise was intriguing, and I liked the whole plot about the Lazarus Serum. Jed, the main character, goes through some real changes, and has to make tough moral decisions. The book moves fast, sometimes too fast, skipping over the consequences of some of Jed’s decisions. It would’ve worked better if the plot had been expanded upon more, and turned into a full-length novel.

 

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